Serialization

This article is about data structure encoding. For other uses, see Serialization (disambiguation).
Flow diagram

In computing, serialization (or serialisation) is the process of translating a data structure or object state into a format that can be stored (e.g. files in secondary storage devices, data buffers in primary storage devices) or transmitted (e.g. data streams over computer networks) and reconstructed later (possibly in a different computer environment).[1] When the resulting series of bits is reread according to the serialization format, it can be used to create a semantically identical clone of the original object. For many complex objects, such as those that make extensive use of references, this process is not straightforward. Serialization of objects does not include any of their associated methods with which they were previously linked.

This process of serializing an object is also called marshalling an object in some situations.[2][3][4] The opposite operation, extracting a data structure from a series of bytes, is deserialization, (also called unserialization or unmarshalling).

In networking equipment hardware, the part that is responsible for serialization and deserialization is commonly called SerDes.

  1. ^ Cline, Marshall. "C++ FAQ: "What's This "Serialization" Thing All About?"". Archived from the original on 2015-04-05. It lets you take an object or group of objects, put them on a disk or send them through a wire or wireless transport mechanism, then later, perhaps on another computer, reverse the process, resurrecting the original object(s). The basic mechanisms are to flatten object(s) into a one-dimensional stream of bits, and to turn that stream of bits back into the original object(s).
  2. ^ "Module: Marshal (Ruby 3.0.2)". ruby-doc.org. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Marshal". OCaml. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Python 3.9.6 documentation - Python object serialization —pickle". Documentation - The Python Standard Library.